Six models for the social accountability of computing

Abstract

This paper briefly examines six public policy strategies for including the "social accountability of computing". "Social accountability" denotes ways of organizing computer specialists, organized groups that develop, manufacture, sell or use computer-based systems, and their markets, so that the broader public is well served. The six models which are examined here include:1. Market arrangements2. Administrative authority3. Professional control4. Regulatory commissions to administer legislative acts5. Judical enforcement and review of legislative acts6. Citizen actionEach is applicable to a different context in which computer-based services are provided. And collectively, they span the set of policy instruments available in liberal democracies. While these models have been extensively developed and examined in a variety of settings, their appropriateness for computing is usually tacitly assumed, rather than grounded in careful analyses. Upon close inspection, each model is found to have severe problems in either its practical effectiveness or its appropriateness for computing.